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LSD will be used in this year's (late summer) west africa / gulf of guinea deployment instead of the Emory S Land.
LSDs aren't being pulled out of ARGs, but the long range ship building plan does eventually have 3 "extra" LSDs on top of the 9 that would be associated with the 9 LPDs and 9 big decks. LPDs are great for independant operations, but as of now, the Navy is resisting building any more than the planned 9.
With the introduction of semi-permanent GFSs and/or LSGs, how would we adjust the ESG's role and OPTEMPO? Do we reduce their deployment rate/OPTEMPO? This would allow some assets (like LSDs) to be used for GFS/LSGs here and there, while allowing the ESG to be in a surge-ready mode in CONUS for longer periods. Does the ESG still participate in as many exercises with foreign militaries as it does now, or can the LSG take over some of that burden? Could we get away with 2-ship ESGs (LHD+LPD) if some of their vehicles were prepositioned on, for example, a forward LMSR with at-sea transfer capabilities (maybe with a mobile landing platform (MLP))?
I am interested in how the introduction of new force packages, the GFS/LSG, might change how we deploy ESGs.
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